A Mom Is Upset That Her College Student Sister Left Her Kids With 'Strangers' After She Dropped Them Off Unexpectedly On Exam Day
She calls her sister "irresponsible" even though she is the one who dropped off her kids after being told that she could not.
fizkes / Shutterstock / Reddit A college student’s sister called her one day asking if she could look after her two children. The student said she was unavailable, as exams were scheduled that day. However, she was surprised to open her front door and discover the children on her front steps.
Now, she wonders if she is wrong after arranging an alternative childcare plan for them so she could take her exams.
The college student dropped off her niece and nephew at a daycare center after her sister unexpectedly dropped them off at her house.
Sharing her story to the subreddit, r/AmITheA–hole, the 19-year-old student revealed that her 25-year-old sister asked her if she could babysit her two children, who are six and four years old, one day so that she could attend a friend’s party. However, the woman told her sister that she would be unable to babysit since she had college exams that day.
The day that the woman’s sister asked her to babysit came around and when she happened to open the front door, she was surprised by what she found.
“The freaking kids were on my doorstep and my sister was driving off,” she shared. “She just left them with me after I said I couldn't stay home that day!”
Still, the woman decided to take matters into her own hands, calling a friend who owned a daycare and asking if she could drop off her niece and nephew while she took her exams.
Thankfully, her friend was able to take them. “I gave her my sister's contact info to her and told me to keep me updated, and I texted my sister about what happened and gave her the address and the phone number,” the woman wrote.
Photo: Dan Race / Shutterstock
After her exams, the woman picked up the children from the daycare center, as her sister was not answering her phone. She fed them dinner and kept them occupied until her sister finally arrived to pick them up at around 9 PM.
The woman's sister called her 'irresponsible' for dropping her children off at the daycare center.
Upon arriving, the woman’s sister was furious that she had dropped off the children at a daycare. “[She] was absolutely livid that I left them with a stranger, that it was irresponsible, that something could have happened, etc,” the woman wrote. “I told her that she knew I couldn't babysit that day, and that she could have picked them up if she wasn't comfortable with that since I texted the address.”
The woman’s sister believes that she should have “just skipped” her exam and retake it at another time.
The woman claims that the incident has caused family tension, with her parents siding with her sister. “My mom told me my sister already has so much on her plate, and that I should help out when I can,” she added. “I guess babysitting at least one day a week for free isn't good enough.”
The woman shares that having both her sister and her parents believe that she is in the wrong has made her doubt herself and her decision.
However, Redditors are justifying her actions.
Many people believed that the woman made the right decision, considering that she already told her sister that she would not be able to babysit that day.
“She dumped her kids at your door and drove off after you already said no, but then she has the balls to be mad that you left them with a stranger which was ‘irresponsible?’ Wow. The hypocrisy,” one user commented.
“Your sister is lucky! When someone leaves kids on your doorstep without warning after you've explicitly said you couldn't take care of them, you might otherwise call the police or CPS,” another user pointed out. “Tell her this is your other option, and you'll do that next time.”
Other users criticized the woman’s parents and sister for assuming that her life is not busy as well.
“Your parents think your life/school isn’t important because your sister ‘has so much on her plate’ - (like going to a party until 9 pm??) But your needs aren’t important at all?” one user noted.
“She’s lucky you took the time to make arrangements for HER KIDS,” another user wrote of the woman’s sister.
Parents of young children undoubtedly have packed schedules and their brains are most likely scattered with never-ending to-do lists. However, this does not mean that those who aren’t parents themselves live carefree lives with no tasks to catch up on.
According to Scholarship America, 70 to 80% of undergraduate college students are working while attending classes, with 35% working full-time. The 14 million Americans who balance both college and work consist of 10% of the entire workforce.
Although these college students may not have their own children to tend to, their lives are far from idle. Like parents, they too have countless responsibilities and should not be subjected to the assumption that they have an endless amount of time to babysit.
Megan Quinn is a writer at YourTango who covers entertainment and news, self, love, and relationships.